Bencic is into the second week of a Slam in her debut at the US Open, and will next meet former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic.

“It all started in Australia where I had a good run,” the Swiss said. “I qualified and I won a round, so from there I started believing that I can play with these players. From there my ranking just improved a lot. I came into the tournament, so I didn’t have to qualify so much. So it’s good that I can make points now.”

The former Wimbledon semifinalist Lucic-Baroni finds herself on a major stage again after a career of personal challenges and injuries left her off the tour more than on.

“This is incredible,” Lucic-Baroni said through tears afterwards. “I believed the whole time. After so many years, my God, this is just incredible. Every painful moment was worth it.”

China’s Peng Shuai was another upset maker, taking out another seed, this time No. 28 Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-3.

In the fourth round Sharapova will meet No. 10 seed Caroline Wozniacki in a battle of former No. 1s. The Woz moved into the fourth round after an impressively-routine 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 18 seed Andrea Petkovic.

“I feel like every match I’m playing better and better. I served really well today,” said Wozniacki who dropped four aces on her German opponent. “I just need to keep staying aggressive.”

“It was a really tough match, even if I won the first set 6-0,” said Errani, who didn’t endear herself to fans with fingers to lips motioning the crowd to be quiet after winning big points, among other gestures. “She’s an amazing player. I just tried to focus on every point. I tried to keep going, not thinking too much about the score.”

No upsets of top seeds in second-round play on the men’s side Friday, but No. 6 seed Tomas Berdych needed five sets to fight off Slovak Martin Klizan 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

“I played well,” Berdych said. “He played really good tennis. That’s something what’s now nice about tennis. He played a first round which he was almost packing his bags going home. He come up from two sets down and then he won. Basically he has nothing to lose.”

“I think I started to return better in the third set,” said Thiem, who warmed up with his friend Gulbis before the match, on coming back from two sets down. “Also, of course his problems physically [cramps] started in the third set. This was a little bit the changing point.”

I started watching tennis regularly in 1997, when Lucic debuted on tour. It’s a shame that she didn’t have the success she had when she first started in tour (winning her first tournament entered, finals of the second). I’m thrilled to see her doing well again.

I am excited for Lucic too. I think her father nearly crushed her career, but it is good to see her winning again. That was a dark period for tennis with Lucic and Dokic both being terrorized and Mary Pierce also having to push away her father and work through similar issues. – I have my picks up for today at http://tennisabides.com

Djokovic impressive so far. If he wins this Slam we can safely say he will reach double digits In Slam count. But if he don’t it will be the third straight year where he wins only 1 Slam after his astonishing 2011. If he is not making multiple slams years in his prime 25-27 hard to see him doing in next few years.
This is a one of a kind chance for him. No Nadal, Murray we still don’t know which form is in and Fed, even as hyped as co-favorite is 33.

Its hard even winning a GS,it took Murray many tries before finally cracking the case,winning multiple slams in a year is an incredible achievements,winning multiple GS in a year multiple times is asking the virtually impossible,IMO this is what seperates Nadal but especially Federer from the rest,if Novak wins this USO then he too will have won multiple GS in a year multiple times too….

that’s true hippy. frankly, i am satisfied that nole won at least one grand slam every year for the past 4 years. it would be wonderful if he could eventually win the french and cincy. those are my biggest hopes for him, to complete the 2 sets.

Jane lol true,anyway if Jamies right then you will probably get your wish next year,i hope he/she is right especially about the AO and Wimby winners,and Rafas nothing left to prove at the FO anymore so im cool now if someone new wins it? ;))….

Did you not know you can’t mention the “R” word…as he is OUT? LOL. Well, he may be OUT of the USO, but he certainly isn’t out of my mind or his millions of fans……end of story!! LOL…… Waiting patiently for his return, and getting anxious for Aussie Open. Just hope he is healing properly.

Clever as usual Giles….NOT!
Yes, lets put Spanish Number 16 ( Robredo ) against Australian kid. Much better logic…
anyway, Novak can tomorrow save 20 kids from burning stadium or find cure for cancer, you will still find something to complain about him.You have pathological dislike for Nole-see a shrink, it will help you (-:

Good match I thought. Really like Kusnetzov. Can see how he won Wimble juniors- hits the ball so hard and flat. Gr8 prospect.
Wasn’t Krunic terrific too? Thought she beat Kvitova, rather than Kvitova beating herself, which usually happens.
Never heard of her, or seen her play before either.

Let’s Go Andy! Let’s Go! How terrific to see “Andy’s Boys” there too, all the way from Oz!

Hippy, Andy always blows hot and cold-even when he went to win tournaments.Let see how it works, hard to predict where is Andy’s game or even better-where is Andy’s head.
Novak did look good.Again, nothing matters until the final…

Hippy chic… I remember you like Nishikori, too. He has been pretty impressive, winning his matches in straight sets. I have not seen Milos play yet this tournament but will try and watch next round. Hoping the match is Monday.

both nole and andy have had little cohorts of fans with their names spelled out. i love that! :) didn’t know andy’s fans traveled all the way from oz. that’s crazy. how do they find the money. :O

contador – kei, raonic, dimitrov, theim and nick the kid are all still working their ways through the draw, so it’ll be interesting to see how far any of these younger guys can go. mind you, fed, nole, andy, tsonga, berdych and wawa are all still in it too. so a nice mix of old guard and young advancers.

regarding coverage i did find a stream finally on “ha ha sport” as i think rz (?) suggested, and while the quality of picture was poor it meant i had options beyond cbs, which was bouncing all over the place during the men’s matches and now is showing only serena with no cuts. there was no commentary on the stream i found and no ads either, which is a nice change from some of the other sites

@Hippy
Somethings up with Andy’s serve, even more than usual lol. Started really well then the % dropped and surprise, surprise, he struggled.
Perhaps it’s still a back problem, dunno.
Played some magic tennis tho and was really aggressive in the first two sets, coming to the net and winning most of the points. His net % was very good.
Fleming was purring :) Said there are few shot makers like him.

@Jane – I follow those Andy Boys on twitter. They’ve been saving up for this trip for at least 2 years. They’re also fortunate to get help from Judy or Dani to get them tickets. It adds to the atmosphere. I wasn’t sure how NYC would react but they have loved them at all 3 matches.

jane, if Nick the kid can stay focused and play the way he played against Seppi he can beat Robredo. His serving looked great and easy for eyes (22 aces), he was hitting the spots at will, his FH was a killer, moving oponent and changing directon with no problem and his movement is so quick and smooth for tall bloke. He has to work on his BH though it is not bad as some tend to say. Seppi didn’t have answer for his game. Most importantly..he didn’t drop any “F” bomb, that is very important if you want to win the match;)

I’d never seen or heard of Krunic. She is delightful! Very composed and poised court presence and she is a fighter. Also was impressed with how she moves and the confidence she has striking the ball on the big points… very steady. She is built sort of like Camila Giorgi and just as attractive on the court. Unfortunately she will face the speeding locomotive that is Vika Azarenka next match!

Geez, the womens game is really in disarray these days. Anyone can win on any day. Probably just as good chance for a qualifier to win this slam as a ranked player. Used to be that a ranking meant something but there is no consistency in the womens game any more.

Contador, which one of these two “jok” Martina was refering to, from urban dictionary:

“To clear things up, there is a major difference between a jock and athletes. Jocks tend to abuse their popularity, while the athletes don’t really mind who they talk to or hang out with.

Signs of a jock: Rude, arrogant, stupid, beats up people, dates only cheerleaders and hangs around other jocks

Signs of a true athlete: Love their sport, try to stay down-to-earth (a little arrogance is expected), hang out with whoever they want, date whoever they want, might beat people up but that doesn’t mean it was uncalled for.”

Lol, Wog boy – Really fairly sure Martina meant it in a complimentary way. The word “jock” is tossed around here meaning someone highly athletic…can or could play numerous sports. Martina said she could easily see Eugenie catching and throwing a baseball well, too. :D

The hype on twitter is off the charts. Ultimately, Robredo is a seasoned veteran and shouldn’t be underestimated. I think he’s being patient and working his way into the match. Nick is bowing hot & cold. We’ll see. I don’t think I’m going to last for the whole match. Look forward to seeing reports tomorrow. Enjoy.

great to see robredo show the teener what it takes to win at a slam. robredo didn’t take well to being shown up in the first set.He seems motivated enough to teach the younging a thing or two, A good lesson for Kyrgios and the puppy love stricken commentator. iI’ m going to bed … this match is over.

yes, it’s over. robredo broke. and i knew if he won that tiebreak nick would go away. but it is indeed a good lesson; he is learning and he has so much going for him. he overhits too much though; that’s a place to start. clean up the errors. and think.

Well, must be somebody else. The only man-love I have heard Courier utter tonight was about how he misses Nadal and wishes he could put a “Spanish brain” in Kyrigos brain. That was rather weird sounding but mostly, Courier is okay.

It is now when the tournament starts getting interesting. The pick of the day was undoubtedly between Krygois Vs Robredo and it was one helluva of a match in which I thought the latter played to his best abilities and tamed the former to submission with his error free Tennis. Robredo is getting better with age and it is no wonder that he was able to beat Novak in Montreal. Now, Wawarinka must be wary of playing against Robredo because he can threw up a few surprises and the match is not anyway a given.

I am little surprised with the easy manner Novak beat Sam Querrey and is that giving us an indication that Novak is playing his near best ? Next up for him is Kohlschrieber and that is really going to be tough. At the other end, Andy would have his hands full against Tsonga and it is anybody’s match with a slight edge to Andy in my opinion. But all said and done, it is really a shame that Novak would meet Andy in the quarters, ofcourse if both reach that stage. It would have been meritorous if that clash had been a semi-finals or even a finals. But, that may not be the case and if the clash happens, it should be a blockbuster match with Novak and Andy meeting after a while and that should arouse the expectations and anxiety of Tennis fans.

yep, this section of the draw is pretty loaded. also kei / milos and then wawa / robredo, as well as nole / kohlie and andy / jo. crazy. have to relook at the other half of the draw to see what’s going on there!

Michael yeah i agree in that the exciting matches seem to be in one half for the most part anyway,Murray/Tsonga,Raonic/Nishikori,however i dont think Kholscrieber has enough of a game to really push Novak?i believe the only player that could really push Federer as i said on the other thread would be Berdych,Novak looks great so far,and i think only Andy and Stan can push him in that section,although their performances of late have been somewhat up and down,that said if you make the final and win the title,playing crap to get there wont really matter one iota….

Hippy Chic Says:
Michael yeah i agree in that the exciting matches seem to be in one half for the most part anyway,Murray/Tsonga,Raonic/Nishikori,however i dont think Kholscrieber has enough of a game to really push Novak?i believe the only player that could really push Federer as i said on the other thread would be Berdych,Novak looks great so far,and i think only Andy and Stan can push him in that section,although their performances of late have been somewhat up and down,that said if you make the final and win the title,playing crap to get there wont really matter one iota….

August 31st, 2014 at 7:01 am

Hi Hippy,

How can anyone, playing in a grand slam and reaching the final of a grand slam, have been playing “crap” in the lead up to it?

How do you figure that one?

Your comment on the other thread about Hugh Jackman, made me laugh! :)

Madmax hi well saying they played crap is probably a bit steep,but sometimes players can stuggle through their matches in 4 or 5 sets,even 3 tight sets,ie Rafa winning Wimbledon in 2010,5 setters against Hasse/Petzchner,Soderling but played brilliantly against Berdych in the final,or Isner 2011 FO,Andy against Hasse in 2012(same player ironically),Roger against Benneteau at Wimbledon in 2012 etc etc,ok probably playing crap aint the right word,should say struggling through,but you get the picture anyway?
Anyway glad i made someone laugh about the Hugh Jackman comment,but i meant every word of it,the man is drop dead bloody gorgeous,and probably the only man i would ever leave Mr Hippy Chic for given half a chance,but as the saying goes,in the words of Kylie Minogue i should be so lucky?